Wednesday, September 21

Murder and mayhem – Mighty Tom’s trust betrayed

Tom faithfully returned each year to Eden (located on the south
coast of Australia) as part of a Killer whale pod who hunted wales with the
resident Homo sapiens. The arrangement was that the pod herded migratory whales
into the bay, blocking off escape routes and chased them around until they were
thoroughly exhausted. They then swam close to shore to the whaling station,
thrashing the water with their mighty tales to signal to the whalers to man
their whale boats and harvest the whales. The pod in turn was rewarded with the
tongues (of no use to the whalers) which can weigh up to 4 tonnes and the lips
as their share of the spoils.

No one is aware of how this unique and brutal partnership began but it is considered
likely the aboriginals formed a bond before the whalers adapted a prior practice
with the use of more modern equipment.
The common bond extended not only to whaling but to shared tragedies of the cruel
sea. The locals recall an extraordinary event involving a fearless young man deciding
to take all of his family out to sea one fine day, boasting he was an expert
seaman. But unheeding wise advice to stay within the confines of the bay his small
boat capsized as a consequence of a sudden squall. His family tragically
drowned and all of the bodies were recovered by the distressed community except
for the father.

Tom knew where his body had lodged, firmly wedged underneath a rock with an
entanglement of sea weed, but despite his best efforts to continually circle the
area for several days he could not attract the attention of the whalers. Tom then
joined up with the entire pod who all swam around in circles for days on end until
the whalers finally realized what they were all trying to communicate. His body
was subsequently recovered and it was decided on a burial service at sea, along
with the Killers who witnessed the event.

But just as the trust strengthened, a series of tragic events unfolded which tore
apart that trust built up over many centuries. Tom and the whales sometimes
were prone to become overly enthusiastic chasing the whales around the bay and
losing concentration at times becoming temporally beached in the shallower
water. On one such occasion a stranger, observing the stranded killer whale rushed
into the water with his gun and shot it dead. Before the local community of
whalers realized what had happened the stranger had fled as the traumatized
whales hastily left the bay, never to resume their migratory return. However after
some considerable time Tom and some of the other whales did finally return and
it was thought maybe Tom was able to persuade the pod it was a stranger
unconnected to the community of whalers who had committed the murder.

However much worse was to come. There had been a change in the captaincy of the
boat and the captain decided not to cut out the tongue and lips for Tom on one fateful day before hauling the smaller( larger
ones were usually left for several days) carcass ashore. One of the old time
crew said to the captain “Tom is not going to like that, he’s likely to turn
nasty and I don’t blame him! “.
But no amount of persuasion would change the skipper’s mind, greedy as he was to
harvest the whale and not have to spend time in honoring the agreement with Tom
and the pod. So he gave the order to the crewman who reluctantly headed for
home.
But Tom then grasped the rope in his mouth with such force it was as if a hand
had reached out and shook the boat in fury. A tug of war ensued, the skipper declaring
was not going to be dictated to by a mere killer whale, so he ordered full
throttle ahead until it all ended when they witnessed an amazing sight. The
rope had apparently caught around one of Tom’s teeth which finally gave way as
they witnessed its dislodgment and saw it sink to the sea bed. All Tom could do
was to swim away in humiliated defeat. Tragically the tooth cavity became
infected with an obsess, and, unable to hunt, Tom died of starvation. His body was
washed up on the forshaw and it was decided to preserve his body and his
skeleton which today can be seen at the maritime museum.

The missing tooth is evident and even the jaw has markings that are the exact same
size as that of the roap and harpoon lines that entwined his mighty mouth so
long ago when he became imprisoned within the bowels of the cruel sea.
My story is just one interpretation from the many that could be drawn from the material
and photos of the whaler’s descendants, some of which can be viewed. Old Tom

Hi Susan, At the moment in South Australia residents have been buffeted by very severe weather, which was billed by the Bureau of Meteorology as a once-in-50-years event, to tear roofs off buildings and brought down trees and powerlines. The end result was most residents of the state lost their power as "transmission lines" came down and the network (50% of which is wind power)got out of sync and had to be shut down entirely. We dodged most of the gale force winds here but it has remained very cold and wet, with daffodils flattened by storms. Some Flooding occurred in regional Victoria where residents had to be evacuated. The stormy weather could also spread to NSW.

About Me

I have worked in the roles as Company Secretary or Divisional financial executive with larger Australian based multinational companies before changing careers in favour of sales and marketing for the latter 12 years of business life.
My particular interests include corporate social responsibility, ethics and research into more sustainable business practices.
I am a fellow of CPA Australia and an Associate member of the Governance Institute of Australia which was previously called the Chartered Secretaries Australia. I am chairman of the Malawi Support group who are a small group of catholic parishioners who raise funds to support a sister parish in Malawi.